Quick Bites

Nouveau taro

by Napua Leong | Nov 15, 2006

Veteran Kaua’i restaurant owner Tom Purdy left the business but didn’t leave kitchen innovation behind. When Purdy craved a creamy salad dressing made without eggs and dairy, he began experimenting with taro and gave it an added flavor dimension by smoking it over a secret blend of wood chips then pureeing it with olive oil, spices and a touch of fruit. Blueberry and raspberry versions were a success. From there it was a short leap to smoked taro dip, made by adding olive oil, vegetable stock, garlic and either black olives or sundried tomatoes. The dips, a kind of flavor-texture cross between hummus and smoky poi, proved a big party hit at his friend’s pu-pu- tables, and Purdy recently debuted them as Taro Delight at the KCC Farmers market where he sold out the day’s supply of dips (at $4.50 for 8 oz.) and rolled smoked taro wraps. He’s got a curry-flavored dip in the works and plans on a pumpkin spice version for the holidays.

Ever the experimenter, Purdy also developed a recipe for laulau filled with home-smoked salmon belly and smoked taro and hopes to start selling those soon, too. Made with dryland taro, the dips and dressings are vitamin rich and satisfying–’it has that fatty feel without all the fat,’ he says–and because the molecules in taro are much smaller than those in comparable starches, the products don’t need stabilizers or preservatives. ‘Who knows how long the dip will keep in the refrigerator?’ Purdy says. ‘It always disappears before we can find out.’ Look for Taro Delight at the KCC Farmers Market and at the Honolulu Waldorf School’s Waldorfaire on Nov. 11 from 10am to 4pm.

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